Testimonial
TANZANIA 2009 "From Dik Diks to Elephants, One Dangerous Hunt"
Written By: Gary Christensen
For years I have wanted to go to Tanzania on a dangerous game hunt, in the fall of 2009 the right opportunity came along allowing me to full fill that dream. Nick White, a good friend and fellow SCI Chapter board member had just taken a big lion in Tanzania with outfitter Hilary Daffi from Arusha Tanzania, who specializes in lion hunts, Hilary had one lion tag left for 2009. Nick had been on 4 lion hunts before he finally got his lion and said that if I ever wanted a “Simba” I better book the trip. The idea sounded really good except that it was already the middle of November. I considered my options and decided I better take Nick’s advice, two days later I confirmed a 21 day hunt in Tanzania for lion, leopard and elephant with a departure date in less than two weeks. We would be hunting in the region known as Lunda South which borders the Ruaha National Park.
My preferred rifle for the trip was a CZ 550 Safari chambered in 416 Rigby sporting a Trijicon 1X4 scope with the illuminated dot.
During the afternoon of the first day while hanging baits, we saw 4 lions, a herd of zebras and several other species of animals. I could hardly contain my excitement.
Since this was my first African dangerous game hunt I wasn’t quite sure how I would react in a face to face confrontation with an animal that could literally take me out of this world. I didn’t have to wonder very long because the very next day we run into an elephant worth pursuing. We immediately got out of the truck, I grabbed my 416 and Andrew the assistant guide grabbed the shooting sticks. Hassanali Ladak, my PH said let’s go as we started doing a fast trot to try and get a better look at the elephant. After studying the tusks my PH said let’s take him. At this point the elephant was not aware of our presence. We took off on a trot again to get around the old boy and get set up where we thought he would come through a small clearing. The plan worked well except that the elephant turned towards us and stopped right in front of some big branches making it impossible to make a clear shot. At this point the elephant knew we were there and let us know that he didn’t like us invading his territory by turning towards us and shaking his head and ears. We stood very still and let him go on his way until he was out of sight, then took off on a fast trot again. Fortunately the wind was in our favor and we were able to get to another clearing where we thought the elephant would come through. Andrew set up the shooting sticks and I was ready for a shot. Hismanal’s plan worked perfect, the elephant came into the clearing, immediately sensed something was wrong and headed directly for us. The bull was 15-20 yards away and closing the distance fast. Even though the big bull was shadowed by the trees the illuminated dot in my scope easily highlighted the area between the eyes, locating the brain. I eased pressure on the 416’s trigger and a 400 grain Barnes solid was on it’s way, with a well placed frontal brain shot the elephant never took another step. I was really impressed with the trijicon scope in how fast it helps you find a target in shaded areas and was truly amazed of the smoothness and knockdown power of my CZ Rifle.
I couldn’t have been more excited, I had been in Tanzania less than one full day and already had one of my most desired trophies.
After taking pictures and cutting meat for baits the local villagers were called, within a very short while over 150 people showed up with knives, machetes and meat bags. People had come from many miles away, mainly traveling on foot and bicycles, many were bare footed, there were even women packing little babies. Within just a few hours the entire elephant was butchered and hauled away. If I hadn’t personally witnessed such a spectacle I never would have believed it. This elephant would feed hundreds of villagers, even the bones were taken to make stew out of.
A couple days later I had the next interesting encounter. While coming back from checking baits we ran face to face with a mature male lion about 15 yards away, my gun immediately found his shoulder but my PH thought we could find an older lion with a darker mane and told me to let the lion walk away. I thought to myself “you are one lucky lion”.
After checking the other baits we came back to one of the blinds where bait had been hit. Within a short while we had 3 lions within about 25 yards of us. The lions were growling and roaring at one another other and must have been irritated because it sounded like they were fighting with each other. Believe me when I say that it was a real tense afternoon. The lions roared so loud it would almost deafen you, it seemed to shake the whole blind as the sound echoed through the trees. The magnitude of the roars would literally make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. The trees and bushes were very thick but we would occasionally get a glimpse of one of the lions as he wondered by our tree blind, unfortunately they never came to the bait or presented a clear shot.
At one point we had 15 baits for lions and leopards with as many as 6 baits being hit at a time. I was amazed at how much work it was to put up the baits, check them each day and how much meat it takes to keep that many baits fresh.
We had a younger but mature male hitting one of the baits every night but we left him alone in hopes of finding an older lion. On the fifth night a dark manned lion hit one of the baits, a “mashon” (tree blind) was built and we were sitting in the blind by late afternoon. About 5:30 in the evening a big lion came in. Hassanali cautioned me to be patient, there were at least two lions, maybe three hitting this particular bait and he wanted me to get the right lion. My PH also said that the lion would come in very carefully studying everything before he walked to the bait and started to feed. After having a few bites my PH said that the lion would leave, go get a drink, then come back and start to feed again, that is exactly what happened. The lion came back from water, then walked around the tree where the bait was, when his head was behind the tree with his shoulder and body exposed I slid my 416 into position and placed the illuminated dot in the scope on his shoulder, my PH said shoot. The 400 grain soft hit the big lion in the shoulder, with an ear deafening roar he jumped in the air, spun around and was gone in an instant. I felt good about the shot, we clearly heard the lion thrashing around in the brush a couple of times then all was silent. Since the brush in the area was incredibly thick and we were aware of at least two other lions in the close proximity of our blind we decided it best to wait for the land cruiser to get there before we went after the lion, even though it would be dark before it arrived. We climbed down from the blind and into the high rack of the cruiser and started glassing for the lion. We got real excited when we spotted a big “Simba” in the thick brush about 15 yards from the bait, but it was a younger male that was probably waiting for his time to feed. We searched for over an hour looking in the dense entanglement of broken limbs, deadfall and brush but just could not locate the wounded lion. We decided it best that we come back at daylight and start our search again. Needless to say it was a very long night for everyone. There was a river close by and if the lion made it across the river we would probably have no chance of finding him. After a restless night we headed out at daylight for our blind. With sunlight in our favor we still could not find the lion from the truck, there was no choice but to get out of the safety of the truck and head into the thick brush on foot. We found a few blood spots and small pieces of bone, but nothing showing a lethal shot. Now that we were aware that we were most likely tracking a wounded animal that was still alive, the concern of a charge put everyone at an extreme high alert level. After an hour of intent searching we still could not find my lion and everyone’s hope of recovering the animal was diminishing by the minute. We got back into the truck and decided to make a bigger circle around the area in hopes of picking up a blood trail coming out of the brush which was just too thick to walk through. We anxiously glassed the new area but could not see any blood or sign. All of a sudden one of the trackers excitedly said “Stop”. In the thick brush there was a dark spot. Hilary said “Do you see the lion? His head is the dark spot to the right and his body is on the left, he is still alive, SHOOT HIM”. I could see the dark spot in the shadows of the brush, the lion was alive and was watching us, but I really had a tough time trying to see his body. Hilary said again, “SHOOT HIM”. Finally quick shots were fired and the lion was dispatched. Signs of exhaustion was on everyone’s face but we were now finally able to breathe with a sigh of relief.
My lion was about 10 years old, measured 10 and ½ feet long and weighed around 450 pounds, it’s body showed a lot of character with countless battle scars. This lion had been a “True Warrior” and “A King of the Jungle”.
My shot was in the front shoulder but was a bit lower than it should have been, the 400 grain bullet had missed his heart and lungs.
In my first week of hunting we had located at least 7 or 8 lions, possibly as many as 10, I could have taken 3 different mature males.
After getting my lion we concentrated on finding a big male leopard. Even though we were experiencing more rain than normal for this time of the year we were still having an average of 3 baits being hit almost every night, but they weren’t always the same baits. When we thought that we had a good leopard working our bait we would build a “mashon” then spend the afternoon and/or morning at the bait, unfortunately our plan was often interrupted because of rain which caused the leopards to be more inconsistent and we kept missing them. On the evening of the 14th day of our hunt we had really big male leopard hit bait for the first time, it had been raining hard all day long but we went ahead and built a “mashon” anyway. When the rain finally let up we went to the blind and sat the rest of the afternoon. Just before dark the big tom climbed the tree, checked the bait, and then immediately left. In a few minutes he came back, this time I had time for a shot. The sound of my 300 magnum echoed through the blind, the leopard let out a big growl then fell from the tree, only to take off on a dead run. After having two leopards jump before I was ready to shoot I was really concerned that the leopard would leave again and rushed the shot, I didn’t get a really good bead on the leopards shoulder like I should have and knew as soon as I fired that the shot was a bit too far back. The leopard went through the really thick brush and crossed a small river a few yards behind the bait. We searched the best we could in the remaining light but it was soon to dark to go after a wounded animal as dangerous as a leopard and had to give up the search. The next morning we tracked the leopard and found it a few hundred yards further in the bush. Unfortunately a pack of hyenas had found the big tom and had eaten part of him destroying the hide. With disappointment we recovered the skull and the rest of the remains and headed for camp.
It didn’t really bother me to be up close and personal when shooting dangerous game. I do have to say however that when you wound a dangerous animal that can seriously injure or kill someone, putting your PH and trackers potentially in serious danger, there is a feeling that comes over you that I can’t describe. As you enter brush so thick that you can only see a few feet with all rifles locked and loaded, a knot in your stomach develops that is very agonizing, it is not one of fear but of serious concern as to whether you or others with guns can react quickly enough and accurately in the event of a charge.
I was truly impressed by the professionalism and knowledge of the guides, particularly regarding hunting big cats. I shot several animals on this trip including a nice dik dik and had a great safari. The accommodations, staff, equipment and food were all excellent.
For more information on hunting lions you can contact Hilary by e-mail at:
hilarydafi@yahoo.com or hilary@daffisafaris.com
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